While this was my second time photographing in the Palouse, I enjoyed it so much more this time. It was fun to drive around and explore the backcountry roads and there was a fair amount of excitement anticipating what was coming around the next curve in the road, or over the top of the next hill. One of my favorite experiences was driving up a hill and reaching the crest. The wide open landscape was exposed slowly, the sky, the distant hills, then the wheat fields in front of us. Then I'd hear a wow, or a that is so cool, or a oh my God! It's that kinda place. Beautiful, expansive, wide open sky and wide open for exploration, the creative mind can flow and wander the opportunities are boundless. This trip was about exploring the back roads, to see more of the less traveled landscape. I'm not sure I did it as much justice as it should have, but I'm already planning my next trip, to photograph the iconic places, and to explore more of the open, vast terrain.

Steptoe Butte and a lone tree.

Images for Steptoe Butte

Pan blurr of thte Palouse wheat fields from Steptoe Butte.

A mix of harvested wheat and green fields from Steptoe Butte.

Harvester from Steptoe, taken with a 400mm lens.

Finally some golden light on golden fields. It was worth the wait! I used the 100 to 400 mm lens from just below the summit of Steptoe to isolate the textures I liked the most.

Harvested fields from Steptoe Butte.Golden light filtered through the end of a dusty day.

End of the Day harvested wheat field textures from Steptoe Butte.

Most of the fields had been harvested already, and it rained the prior day to our visit, so there was no harvesting as the wheat was drying. On day two, however, we came across some harvesters close enough to the road. Next year I'll get this with a wide angle, and I'll be there earlier!

Harverster coming aroudn the corner.

I don't shoot cars very often, but I liked this truck, its rust, the well used condition, the old wooden tool box on its flatbed, we spent about an hour getting the details, finding angles and just enjoying it.

A retired old Chevy truck abandon on a back country road.

The golden windmill.

The Palouse is famous for all of the lines, forms, textures, that create endless composition possibilities. There's just so much, the hard part is focusing in and isolating just one part.

Patterns textures and abstract shapes.

Harvested fields and tilled Earth.

Tilled barren ground and harvest wheat fields detail.

Bi-plane crop duster getting ready to come aroudn and take another pass.

The old barns and classic reds are there, but I like the older barns with the original rusty brown red, not the newer bright red.

Just another red barn out in the wide open sky.

Red barn detail.

The reamining building of the town of Wilcox.

Three days in the Plaouse is only enough to scratch the surface. I'm going back next month, and then I'm going back in the winter too. I want to see how it all changes. I'm planning workshops for next year, email me (tboyer@seanet.com) if you're interested, the details will be on the website in a few weeks. In May, 2015 we'll do the classic green hills, flowers and all of the iconic locations, in late July, 2015 we'll do the harvest of golden wheat, we'll look for opportunities to get close to those big harvesters and get some dramatic compositions. It will be fun, and there will be some places we'll have as destinations for a specific photo opportunity. But, I think the exploration of the Palouse is part of the experience, so we'll leave room and time open for just seeing what unfolds before us on the back roads of this incredible landscape.